Mark 4:10-20 — Hearing Tests & Heart Checks

Mark 4:10-13 "Hearing Tests"

And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 
And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that

“they may indeed see but not perceive,
    and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven.”

And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?

Comments:

The disciples asked Jesus about the parable of the sower. They picked out this parable, in particular, this day. In answer to their question, Jesus explained why he spoke in parables. Those who desired to hear and understand would do so (v.24), but those who didn't want to hear what Jesus was saying would not understand his message. They would not repent and return to the God who loved them. At this point, Jesus was committed to the cross and God was committed to sending him for the salvation of many. There would be no national change of heart of the part of Israel until after the crucifixion of Christ (at the earliest). The parables were a filter to weed out the insincere and impenitent. Jesus taught the multitudes, he ministered to all who came, but, he did not "throw his pearls before swine." (Matt. 7:6)

Mark 4:14-20  "Heart Checks"

The sower sows the word.

¹⁵ And these are the ones along the path, where the word        
               is sown:

            when they hear,    Satan immediately comes

                                                   and takes away the word
       that is sown in them.

¹⁶ And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who,

           when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. ¹⁷ 

                      And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then,

                                              when tribulation or persecution arises

                                                      on account of the word,

                                                   immediately they fall away.

¹⁸ And others are the ones sown among thorns.

                                    They are those who hear the word, ¹⁹ but

the cares of the world and

the deceitfulness of riches and

the desires for other things   

                                              enter in and choke the word,           
                                                                            and it proves unfruitful.

²⁰ But those that were sown on the good soil

                                        are the ones who hear the word
                                                                and accept it and bear fruit,

                        thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

Comments:

Jesus loves to answer questions, although he seems to have been a little dismayed that they didn't understand this one. Remember, this is the Parable of the Sower, the Sower who went out to sow…sows to all kinds of soil. His voice goes out still to all kinds of people. How will they respond?

West Bank Israel, Photo: Greg K. Dueker

Hard heart—If we have hardened our hearts by repeatedly walking down the path of rebellion and sin, we make it easier for the devil to snatch away any hope for our producing a harvest of righteousness with our lives. Jesus sows to us nonetheless. He keeps asking, we need to stop letting the birds steal our hope.

Shallow heart—We agree enthusiastically that Jesus’ way is right and good. In fact, it is something we have been waiting a long time for. However, things get tough and because we have not really sunk our roots down into God and his Word, we are dried out and overcome by the heat of persecution. Yes, we want to follow Jesus, but how much can he expect from us, after all, we're only human, or so the popular thinking goes. If we faint under pressure, it is an indication that we didn’t plow up the rocks ahead of time, so that we might have resources to draw upon when the enemy turns up the heat.

Photo by Alek Kalinowski on Unsplash

Distracted heart—If our loyalties and desires lie in more than one place we will soon become tangled in all the attached strings and become choked by them. We cannot grow freely as God would intend when we have to give attention to other matters. It reminds me of Jesus’ teaching that where our treasure is then there our heart will be as well. This is the heart that starts strong for God, but soon other things begin to divert some of their heart away from the Lord toward other things. Then those things begin to grow more rapidly than their spiritual life and crowd out the good crop and replace it with nothing but briars and weeds. In this part of the country, it is not uncommon to see entire houses, which when left unattended are swallowed up by wild blackberry brambles.  

Oregon Wheat Feld, Photo: Greg K. Dueker

Faithful heart—Of course we intuitively know that this is the heart that bears much fruit. It is encouraging to me that while the good soil takes some work to be ready to receive the seed, the main thing is to allow the seed to do its work in our lives. What great joy and reward!

Lord, please let me know when there are rocks I need to remove, thorns I need to pull, and seeds of your Word I need to receive. Let me really hear what you are trying to say. Let me be a part of the harvest you were looking for when you first went out to sow!